It (The film of Farewell to Manzanar) was a very, very good response and we were…I mean we’re such innocents. We didn’t know anything about television or any of this. But no, it had a very good response, very good reviews and then when it was nominated for, you know, an Emmy and then the Humanitas Prize, it actually won that. That was quite a shock to us because we weren’t in the business.
But I remember my agent seeing the first cuts of the…came down to Universal. [?] She saw it and she came out and she was just stunned. She was crying. She said, “This is going to win awards.” And we thought, “Wow.” So they knew and I think it was just a groundbreaker for the time. And you know, it’s amazing that it holds up. It’s like a classic now.
Date: December 27, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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